Amazon's New E-Book Thingamajig
Bookworms rejoice! Amazon.com unveiled its portable reading device on Monday (just in time for the holiday shopping season), which wirelessly downloads books, magazines and newspapers. Now, instead of curling up in front a roaring fire with your favorite hardback, you can cozy up with a $400 "Kindle."
The Kindle's wireless delivery system uses the same nationwide high-speed data network (EVDO) as advanced cell phones. More than 90,000 books are available for the cutely named gadget. Titles are $9.99, unless marked otherwise, Amazon said in a press release.
The Kindle Store also offers over 300 blogs -- including Slashdot, TechCrunch, BoingBoing, The Onion and The Huffington Post. Blogs are downloaded automatically for as little as $0.99 each. Yeah, they're free the old-fashioned way, but c'mon, every innovation has its price, right?
CEO Jeff Bezos said the top design objective behind the slim thingamajig was "to get out of the way -- so you can enjoy your reading." Kindle is wireless, he pointed out, "so whether you're lying in bed or riding a train, you can think of a book, and have it in less than 60 seconds."
Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be an add-on that allows the Kindle to play digital books on tape, which is precisely what I'd need on Wednesday when I fight hours of Thanksgiving holiday traffic from Washington to West Virginia as I head home to see the relatives.
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